shoup



Feb. 23, 1965 R. F. SHOUP 3,170,623

vowmc cums wrrn REMOVABLE vo'rmc SPINDLE rumouss Filed July 12, 1952 a 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

a 6 40 70 F 70 40 I 44 .1 '2 0 6 42 FIG] Fla 8 6 uvmvron FIG. 6 FIG. 5 RANSOM F. SHOUP ATTY.

R. F. SHOUP 3,170,623

vo'rINc cams wm-x REMOVABLE vonuc srmnua moms Feb. 23, 1965 Illlf FIG. 3

FIG. 9

FIG 4 United States Patent 3,170,623 VOTING MACHINE WITH REMOVABLE VOTING SPINDLE HANDLES.

Ransom F. Shoup, Bryn Mawr, Pa., assignor to Shoup Voting Machine Corporation, New York, NY. Filed July 12, 1962, Ser. No. 209,445

' 1 Claim. (Cl. 235-54) This invention relates to a voting machine of the type disclosed in Shoup Patent No. 2,054,102.

One object of the invention is to produce an improved machine of the type set forth.

The machine disclosed in said Shoup patent includes voting spindles 38 which are arranged in vertical columns, and each of which is provided with an operating lever or key 30. As can be seen from FIGS. 17 and 18, there are ten columns of voting spindles with about twenty-five spindles in each column. In present machines, there are about forty spindles in each column. In any event, the voter is confronted with an overwhelming number of keys which can be annoying to the more competent, and can bewilder the less sophisticated, members of the electorate.

When the number of parties and contending candidates is large and all the spindles must be used, the situation cannot be helped. But, in many elections, only some of the voting spindles in some of the columns are needed and released for use and the remaining keys are locked. In such cases, the presence of a large number of un-needed, and non-usable, keys serves no useful purpose and confuses the voter. 1

It is therefore a specific object of this invention to provide an improved voting machine in which the operating keys of the voting spindles which are not needed for a given election can be easily removed and reinstalled without any skill or any special tools, and whereby a voter using the machine will only be confronted with a small number of operating keys.

For easy reference and for identification with the said Shoup patent, the voting spindles of the present disclosure will be referred to by numeral 38 and the keys or handles of the spindles are referred to by numeral 30.

The full nature of this invention will be more fully understood fromtthe following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary and diagrammatic front elevational view of a voting machine of the type referred to, showing portions of three columns of voting spindles, some of which have their operating keys, and some of which have had their operating keys removed in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlargement of a portion of a column of voting spindles, such as those shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view looking in the direction of line 33 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a view looking in the direction of line 4-4 on FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of one of the spindle operating keys shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a view looking in the direction of line 6-6 on FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of a button which is attached to a spindle from which the operating key has been removed.

FIG. 8 is a view looking in the direction of line 8-8 on FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view showing certain parts which, for clarity, are omitted from the other views.

Since the structure and operation of the voting machine, generally, and the structure and operation of the voting spindles, specifically, form no part of the present invention, and since they are fully disclosed in the aforesaid, and subsequent, Shoup patents, they are not shown nor described. For the purpose of this disclosure, it is enough to know that the voting spindles 38 project forwardly, or toward the voter, through a front cover plate 28 and that when an operating key 30 is rotated, the corresponding spindle is rotated and records a vote for the person to whom the operating key is assigned.

In order to facilitate engagement of a key, or handle 30, with, or its disengagement from, its spindle, operating key 30 is provided with an integral round hollow head, or hub 40, which is provided with a reduced round portion 42 to form a shoulder 44. Hollow hub 40 and reduced portion 42 are provided with a reduced cylindrical bore 46 for accommodating the end of a voting spindle and an enlarged bore 47 which is adapted to receive the rectangular head 48 of a voting spindle 38. Registering portions of the side walls of bores 46 and 47 are cut away to provide a T-shaped opening which is best shown in FIG. 5. It will be noted that the corners of rectangular head 48 are rounded, or radiused, as at 50, to facilitate the entry of the head into slot 46. By this arrangement, when head 48 of the spindle is inserted into bore 47, and the stern of the spindle is inserted into bore 46, the surface 52 of head 48 engage shoulder 54 of bore 47 whereby the spindle is integrated with the handle for joint rotation and whereby the handle cannot be moved axially of the spindle. In other words, handle 30 can only be disengaged from the spindle by movement at a right angle to the axis of the spindle;

To prevent unauthorized removal of a handle 30 from its spindle 38, I use a cover strip 56, which is somewhat flexible, and which is provided with round holes 58 adapted to receive the reduced portions 42 of the hubs 40 of the handles. It will be noted that the diameter of holes 58 is smaller than the diameter of hub 40 so that when reduced portion 42 is inserted through a hole 58, strip 56 abuts shoulder 44, as best shown at the top portion of FIG. 3. As will be seen from the bottom portion of FIG. 3, strip 56 can be disengaged from reduced portion 42 of a handle 30 by being pushed away from the voter, or to the left, as viewed in FIG. 3, until it clears the inner end 68 of the spindle handle 30 so as to permit lateral movement of the handle 30 relative to the spindle which is the only way that the handle can be disengaged from the spindle. In order to prevent unauthorized removal of spindle handle, or other tampering by disengagement of strip 56 from reduced portion 42 of handle 30, I provide a clip 60, which is best seen at the top of FIG. 3. This clip includes a flat portion 62, adapted to be secured to the front cover, or wall 28, of the voting machine, and a V-shaped portion 64 disposed between said front wall 28 and strip 56. Clip 60 should be rotatably secured and, conveniently, this is done by passing a rivet 66 through registering apertures in front wall 28 of the machine and in fiat portion 62 of the clip and upsetting the rivet so as to permit forced, but not loose, rotation of the clip about the horizontal axis of the rivet. As will be seen from FIG. 3, strip 56 serves as a cover to conceal clip 60 and make inaccessible.

It will be noted that when V-shaped portion 64 is in the position shown at the top of FIG. 3, strip 56 cannot be moved to the left into disengagement from reduced round portion 42 of the spindle handle 30. The spindle handle cannot be moved transversely of the rectangular head 48 of spindle 38, which is the only way the handle can be disengaged from its spindle. To disengage a handle from its spindle, clip 60 is rotated from the position at the top of FIG. 3, in which V-shaped portion 64 registers with cover strip 56, to the position shown at the bottom of FIG. 2, in which V-shaped portion 64 is out a of registration with strip 56. Strip 56, being flexible, can, in the absence of V-shaped portion 64 of the clip, be

. pushed to the left, as viewed in FIG. 3, until it clears the inner edge 68 of reduced portion 42 or hub 4% of the key 30, as shown at the bottom of FIG. 3.

With reduced portion 42 out of round hole 58 in strip 56, the handle is movable transversely of the aXis or" the spindle to disengage its hub 40 from the rectangular head 48 of its spindle. After the handle or key 30 has been removed, clip 60 is rotated back to the position at the top of FIG. 3 in which it again backs up strip 56 and prevents its disengagement from reduced portion 42 of hub 40.

In order to cover, or trim the bare rectangular head 48 of spindle 38 from which the operating key 3%) has been removed, I provide a button 70 which is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 and which is identical with hub 49 and reduced portion 42 of a spindle handle 30. This can be seen by comparing FIGS. and 7 from which it will be seen that the only difference is that extension 72 of the spindle handle is omitted from button 70. It will be understood that when button 70 is applied to the head of the spindle from which handle 30 has been removed and clip 6t) is restored to the position shown at the top of FIG. 3, button 70 will be locked to the head of the spindle in the same manner in which the spindle operating handle is locked.

In practice, clips 60 are placed at suitable intervals, such as behind every third, fourth, or fifth operating handle 30.

By this invention, and as diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1, only the needed spindle keys or handles 30 are kept in place and the keys on the spindles which are not needed are replaced by buttons 70. A voter using the machine will now be only confronted with keys which are actually needed and will not be bewildered and confused by a large number of non-usable keys.

In practice, and as shown in exaggerated manner in 4: FIG. 9, only, the ballot 74 which bears the names of the candidates is placed against wall 28 and the ballot is protected by a transparent cover 76 which is suitably locked in position.

What I claim is:

A voting machine including a front wall,

voting spindles projecting through said wall,

enlarged heads carried by said spindles,

operating handles for said spindles,

each handle including a round hub having a transversely disposed slot for engaging the head of a corresponding spindle to prevent axial movement of said handle relative to said spindle,

a flexible locking strip having round holes engageable with said hubs to prevent lateral movement of the handles relative to their corresponding spindles, and a clip having a high portion and a low portion, and

means rotatably mounting said clip adjacent said handle and said strip whereby rotation of said clip to bring said high portion between said front wall and said strip prevents disengagement of said strip from said hubs and prevents lateral movement of said handles relative to said spindles and whereby rotation of said clip to bring said low portion between said strip and said front wall permits disengagement of said strip from said hubs and permits lateral movement of said handles relative to said spindles.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 863,687 8/07 Abbott 235-54 1,363,885 12/20 Lausterer 235-51 2,158,789 5/39 Andrie 287-53 2,189,951 2/40 Gustavson 235-5 1 LEO SMILOW, Primary Examiner, 

